A Troubled Past and New Future
by Charles T. Servant
Summary: Prologue to a new story behind Sonic X:Metarex. Rated T for violence. Please read my author's notes at the beginning. Thanks for reading! In the past, the Petali clan stumbles upon some debris, while modern time Tails is not dealing with Cosmo's death.
1. Prologue

Prologue to a Prologue

A/N: I apologize beforehand, because I will essentially be altering a small portion of the Sonic X storyline (Sonic X and all of its characters are owned by Sega, not me), so I needed to create a prologue story. Parts of this story are referring to Star Wars, so all related characters and technological references – other than my OC Maerick, and maybe Slick, Biome, CM, Snipe, and Sarge – are owned by Lucas Film. This is my first fanfic, so please review; I need all the help I can get! As you can see, I tend to ramble in my notes, so enough of this author's babbling and on with the story!

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**Current Day; Tails' Workshop, Mobius…**

He sat there at his workbench looking hopelessly out the window up at the starry sky; a little orange fox with two tails. When one looked closer at his short muzzle, soft and white, one could see the moonlight reflect off the lines of tears running down his cheek. The tips of his tails drooped down below his feet that hung to one side of his chair, almost touching the ground, while his head rest sadly on his right forearm while his left arm, propped up at the elbow, was wrapped around to the back of his head in a vain attempt to provide some small comfort by holding his head.

Tails, however, could not be comforted from the wound he had been dealt for it struck deeper than any blade ever could, and it left a scar that was invisible but more dreadful to see than any physical mark. He had lost the love of his life one month ago. Her name was Cosmo, and she was a petite, almost fragile girl with hair as green as grass, a voice as gentle as a breeze through the leaves of trees, and a disposition as tender yet persevering as a single tendril of a vine growing on a trellis. There is a reason for these redundant similes to plants, as she was a plant herself, one of the Seedrian species of anthropomorphic plants, and she had sacrificed herself to save the universe from annihilation.

Tails continued to look at the sky with his vision blurred by tears, and as another wave of sorrow filled his heart he shut his eyes and cried out to the midnight sky.

"Cosmo, why did you have to go? Why couldn't you let me figure out a way to stop Dark Oak without anyone dying? Why…WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME HERE?" he wailed, though he knew that he still, after a month of desperate searching, could not find a better way of stopping Dark Oak.

He fell back in his chair as the pain overwhelmed his senses, and tears began to stream down his cheeks anew as he wept once more. She had been everything to him, yet she had left him. He had made a promise to keep her safe no matter what, and in his mind it was unforgivable that he had failed, even if she had asked him to break his promise. Even worse, he had pulled the trigger that had fired the cannon at Dark Oak to destroy him while she bound him in place, destroying them both. He had killed her. He did his best to not think about that, because he knew that if he did he would go mad with guilt. After all, just the thought of failing her had left him like this for a month with no end in sight, so what would the thought of having killed her do to him?

As the sorrow subsided for the moment he wearily opened his eyes, looking over at a pot of soil on his window sill. It brought a small measure of hope and despair to him, for Sonic and Shadow, being in their super forms at the time, had immediately tried to save Cosmo with Chaos Regeneration when she had been killed, but all that had formed was a small seed; his only reminder of her. It was comforting to think that maybe the plant would grow into Cosmo, but he had begun to lose hope now that a month had passed and, despite the best efforts of Cream and himself, the seed had not even begun to sprout. As he remembered her last words to him on the ship, he began to think.

_Cosmo… one day we _will_ be together again. I hope that it will be sooner than later, whatever way it happens…_

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_

**Two months before Cosmo's arrival on Mobius…**

_392__nd__ Lieutenant's Log: My name is Lieutenant Maerick Stevens. I am the Commanding Officer of the 392__nd__ Clone battalion of the Navy of the Galactic Republic. We have been stationed on a planet passed the Outer Rim designated VIP (Ironically enough for Very Important Planet) because of its plentiful resources and uninhabited state. _

_We are far beyond any help if we are attacked here because of how far into uncharted space this planet is. It would take approximately 3 standard Coruscant days while traveling in hyperspace if you left from the nearest Republic-controlled planet. Yes, we are out in no-man's land, and it is our punishment for being "corrupted". _

_The 392__nd__ was originally founded to be a way of disposing of problematic clones by throwing them into "necessary" missions that were completely suicidal, until the Senate realized that rebellious clones weren't the only ones that could cause problems. Then I was put in command of the unit, for I was considered to be the "ultimate sign of corruption" by the Jedi Council … bottom line I became the only human in the navy not in command of a fleet of ships, performing a role considered to be too "low" for humans of perceived superior intellect as punishment for being…different. _

_Every clone under my command her has a large fluke in their genes or personality that separate them from regular clone troopers. This goes beyond just personality quirks, which all clones have; this is deviation from the mold. Some have fully-developed morals and will question orders that seem immoral or cruel, or have an intelligence considered too large for a lowly clone trooper, while others have faces with features that vary from the standard clone face, or different hair color, or some trait on the long list of "corruptions". And that was the problem: they were too unique, too much like people. If the public began to realize that the clones could be genuine like "real" humans, there would be a public uproar about how clones were being used like droids. _

_In any case, under my command the 392__nd__ became a cohesive fighting unit and began to beat impossible odds due ironically to the fact that their quirks gave them a common bond that allowed them to fight with more passion, more tactical thinking, and in a more overall "human" manner. Once the navy began to be stretched thin the Senate began to lose their ability to give the credit for our successes to other battalions, and so we were essentially exiled so that we would remain the Republic's dirty little secret. _

_So anyway, now we essentially stranded in paradise… ha-ha-ha, I think the Senate believed that this uninhabited planet would be a death trap like Felucia, due to its large plant presence, but most of the plant life is as benign as it is beautiful, so we stay at our posts discussing the nature, and sometimes politics or just life. It brings us all closer together, and the talks are good for making the new recruits we get every few months feel at home, since they are just coming to terms with their exile when they arrive. _

_I don't know why I'm describing the history of our unit in this entry, since today is no different from any other day; I've been doing this the passed few days with information about the unit and the war…maybe this is for the future generations after the war is over, but who knows, after all this is talking about _me_. So anyway, I'm just gonna give my daily report now…_

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**A few weeks later, on a refugee ship…**

"Galaxina, you are needed on the Bridge right away!"

"What is it, Elder?"

"We found debris orbiting the nearby planet and discovered something, but you mustn't tell little Cosmo; you'll know why when you see…"

"Yes, Elder, but is it the Metarex?"

"We are unsure, little one, but please hold your questions; they will all be answered soon."

"Yes Elder."

"Oh, and Galaxina, what do you remember about…animals?

"They were the monsters that drove us from our home, and are the scum of the universe that survive by leeching off of our kind. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, I was just trying to see how you might react later…but anyway, please hold your questions for now and come with me."

"Yes, Elder."

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What did the Petali clan find? Why in the world did I include some random Star Wars trivia in here? And who is this Maerick? Find out in the next chapter, and please R&R! (Honestly, I am sorry. This _is_ a boring intro, but you have to start somewhere, right?)


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A/N: Here it is, as promised! I do not own any Sega characters or anything referenced from Star Wars (The notes are there to help), they are owned by Sega and Lucas Film respectively. Thanks for reviewing and the encouragement. Enjoy!

**A few minutes later, on the Bridge…**

"My dear, I asked you to come because the debris we found was debris from a space ship, and we found a log from what appears to be the…lieu…lieuten…I hate the gruff language they speak…Lieutenant of the ship, among … other things. From it we have determined that there is an interplanetary, um…Republic… near here that had a part of its army stationed here. They were at war with the…CIS, I think, a group of people trying to take control of that galaxy. They called themselves "separatists", but this man claims that they used this name to gain popularity, for no one would support the war otherwi-

"Forgive me for interrupting, Elder, but did you say _man_?"

"Y-yes I did, the speaker is male, but do _not_ interrupt me again while I am speaking, young lady, understood?"

"Yes, Elder, but this man, is he a plant like the Thorndrigans? I've never seen men other than them before… Is he handsom-?

"No, he is an animal, so don't finish that last question. But there is interesting information on this journal, so we will watch. I expect you to behave yourself, however. Even though you know what animals did to us, it doesn't mean you can get angry and raise a fuss, understood?

"Yes, Elder."

"Good, now this next entry took up quite a lot of memory in the data pad, so let's see what it says…"

**One week earlier…**

392nd Lieutenant's Log: _Lieutenant Maerick here. Today I have_-

"What IS he?"

"Galaxina! If you must know, he is a human, one of the more commonly intelligent animal species in the Universe, and a distant relative to the species that invaded Greengate. Now, we managed to stop the transmission so we didn't miss anything, but be _quiet_ from now on!"

"Yes, Elder."

…_successfully created a camera that will be able to attach to the outside of my helmet and allow me to make live recordings of the camp, so I will do this for the education of future generations. Here is a field test… Alright! The camera is functioning at full strength, and the visual is coming through on the screen. So I'll just head out to the outpost and talk to some of the guys…_

**A few minutes later…**

The grizzled officer stepped out of a corridor onto a field of grass on a gentle slope that led to a wide plain that with vibrant grass that was lush, green, and just a few inches tall. The lieutenant wasn't lying about the tame plant life. Since there were no animals in the grasslands, the grass hardly grew at all, was very durable, and was extremely pretty. The grasslands had small, green shrubs with pink and white flowers that grew throughout the fields, along with wildflowers that had royal blue petals and gave off a sweet aroma. There was an occasional tree that resembled a palm tree, though without the decaying wood from previous leaves present.

_I love how this planet has one season all year, which is spring, and has only two types of weather: sunny and clear or rainy. When it rains, the water is mildly warm, and the troops run out into the rain and use it to wash their armor and fill their canteens because of the purity of the water__. The only areas that proved to be dangerous in this place were the two large rain forests to the east and west of the base, running parallel to the plains until about 90 miles away when they branched away from the plains. The forests are typical rain forests, filled with insects and undiscovered animal species that, consequently due to their long time in isolation, do not enjoy visitors, to say the least. Of the two five-man scout groups we sent out to explore each forest, only one man cam back from one of the groups, and he was crawling because his left leg, right foot, and right hand had been torn off by the animals...__I still shudder when I think about that day...__ He died later in the med lab, and we never went into the jungles again.  
_

Now the officer comes upon a group of people sitting on make-shift cloth folding chairs and standing around sipping glasses of water and telling jokes.

_Here we are. These are some of the guys. Those five over by the fire pit are the longest serving members and were assigned to me just after I had fought one of my first battles. They have a knack for surviving scrapes and have learned about the…true purpose of the 392__nd__. They serve me loyally and are my closest friends. The shorter one on the left is Slick, one of the most moral soldiers you'll ever find, and one of the kindest. The next one is Biome, a standard-looking clone with a passion for nature and learning, though some mock him for being a failed medic (he gets queasy at the sight of blood and freezes up), but he is still outgoing and kind. The blond one with a beard is CM, short for Congress Man, one of the smartest men I've ever known, and a great strategist who can be a little bit too formal sometimes. The quiet one in the shade is Snipe, one of the best snipers in the navy, but he was demoted for insubordination and being anti-social was added to his charge later on (when the Navy realized insubordination was just a slap on the wrist and a demotion to private, they decided they wanted to get rid of him and used the 392__nd__ to do it). The last guy is Sarge, and he is actually one of the five guys here to make sure that I don't cause any problems, but he is the best officer at raising morale with a quick speech that I've ever known._

"Elder, why does, err…Maerick look different from the other… humans, yet the others look so similar?

"Because, Galaxina, they are called clones, so they are genetic replications of each other, and Maerick is not a clone. He also said that that they were, um, glitched copies, I think, which is why they don't look exactly the same."

"Oh, okay. Thank you, Elder."

"Anything else?" Galaxina shook her head. "Good, so we'll begin again."

"Sir, what do you have there? Is that a…a camera?" CM asked.

"Yes, it is. It's for my logbook, so smile every one!"

Snipe sniggered, "Oh cool, we get to be in the famous "Lieutenants Logbook", whoopdee-fricken-doo."

_As I said, he is _very_ anti-social sometimes_…

"Hey, Sir, can I use that?" asked Biome curiously, "I want to record the plants around here…"

"Biome, you'd spend all day explaining plant life for the camera if you could" said Snipe again.

"And you would reduce everyone to a crying mess for the sake of your base humor if you could" scolded Slick.

"Touché, monsieur, you wound me so. Maybe I should apologize out of shame from your _harsh_ rebuke."

"You _should_ be sorry."

"Ah, I _should_ be, but not as much as YOUR FACE!"

"What the heck? Where did you get that from? Your book of _second-rate_ insults?"

_Seriously, they can be just like teens whenever…well…whenever we have free time, which is most of the time now_…

"Knock it off, Slick!" yelled CM. "You lower yourself to his level when you do that. I mean real-

"INCOMING!"

The blast from the shell that had just exploded caused interference in the camera, and suddenly the lens was looking at the sky as Maerick was knocked flat on his back by the explosion. As the soldiers looked up to the sky in horror, they watched a squadron of Vulture bombers drop three full payloads of bombs on the base, reducing it to a metallic, skeletal structure illuminated by the flames that burned throughout the now empty shell. It was then that the demoralized troops finally looked out over the plains and saw the droid army advancing towards them.

"HOLY CRUD, THE DROIDS ARE GONNA KILL US!"

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Uh-oh, is this why there was debris in space? But wait, they are on the ground, not in space…so what will happen to the 392nd? Will the Petali clan ever meet these humans? Why the heck did the droids attack some random planet? (Actually, I can answer that one: the CIS is covetous and would fight the Republic for a rock floating out in the middle of nowhere) _When_ will I stop asking annoying rhetorical questions? Who knows, but there is a big battle coming, so stay tuned! (As you can see, I fail at making puns among other jokes…oh well. Oh, and please R&R!)


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N: This is the first battle, and I'm not sure I wrote it well, so please review and tell me what I need to do better! Also, I apologize, but this is quite long, so please bear with me. I do not own any Sega characters or anything referenced from Star Wars, they are owned by Sega and Lucas Film respectively. Thanks for reading. Enjoy!

**Just west of Base 1 on VIP…**

392nd Lieutenant's Log: Automated Response: _Data exceeded space for single file, so previous entry has been continued in this file. Loading…_

"Everyone, listen to me!" Maerick yelled to all of the nearby soldiers as he climbed to his feet, "We are NOT going to die! What we need to do is fight back now and do so with a plan, so listen up! Now, all clone troopers find cover in the ruins and fire at will on the droids, but be smart, because we need to give the techs and medics time to do what is necessary. Speaking of which, I need two of you medics to search the ruins for survivors and try to get them to the Med Bay of the underground Dreadnought (A/N: That is a type of large Star Wars space ship used by the Republic, feel free to look it up on Google if you want). The last one needs to stay here for the defensive force. I need all of the technicians to scavenge the ruins for salvageable parts for vehicles and any extra supplies we have. Take those supplies to the ship and continue until I give the signal to…to evacuate.

"Evacuate, Sir? You mean retreat? You know that's against-

"Yes, Sarge, I know. There is an entire army of droids over there that we would have barely been able to beat _with_ the entire garrison and defense of the base. There are now half of us, with no vehicular support and no defensive turrets to shoot down aircraft. I WILL NOT allow my men to be massacred here, no matter my orders! Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. Now everyone else, take cover in the ruins and be ready to fall back on my signal. Alright, MOVE!"

And so the remaining troopers found cover and fired on the advancing droids. Snipe found an alcove to fire from and proceeded to do what he did best: pick off droids quickly and quietly. Even so, the droids advanced mercilessly, with nearly no pause between the attack of each wave. However, the five "veterans", as they were called by the newest soldiers, valiantly cut down entire companies of droids, and gave confidence to the greener men (a/n the five are supposed to be Biome and Slick and the rest). The men of the 392nd proved to be some of the most noble in the navy, ready to jump on a grenade if sacrificing themselves meant that it protected their comrades. The lone medic advanced to the wounded through the hail of gunfire and miraculously got through unscathed and saved numerous lives, though the droids continued to overwhelm the clones as they swarmed up the hill to the base, and all hope seemed lost.

_The Dreadnought__'s crew I sent to the ship should have it ready by now. Where are they, if it isn't ready soon, we'll all die out here…_

"Sir? … Sir! Do you copy?"

"Yes, I'm here. What's your status?" Maerick replied as he shot a lone droid a few feet away in its abdominal fuel cell, causing it to erupt into flames as it fell to the ground lifeless.

"We have the ship prepped and awaiting the troops, so whenever you're ready, Sir."

_Alright, looks I will have to give these guys some cover so they can retreat…I think it's time to give the order…_

"Elder, why is it that we can hear his thoughts?"

"I am not entirely sure, little one. I assume it has to deal with his helmet… anyway, it isn't important, just watch."

"But there's so much blood, Elder… it just… coats the ground in red …"

"I know, little one. Such is the folly of war. Though I do feel that maybe these animals are not as bad as most, they are still caught in such senseless killing so I cannot tell. After all, we were just recently locked in a war of our own."

This, unfortunately, was not what the other crew members, the ones who had lost loved ones to the war the war with animals on Greengate that gave rise to the Metarex, wanted to hear, and a huge …discussion… sparked in the bridge at this comment. It was suddenly stopped short of turning into a fistfight when a visitor came in.

"Galaxina, is everything okay? You have been absent for some time now…Oh, is there something wrong?" A little green Petali child asked as she walked into the bridge. Everyone froze, and the technicians removed the video from the monitor.

"Oh…no, everything is fine, Cosmo. I am sorry that I forgot to tell you that the Elder had summoned me; please forgive me for worrying you so."

"There is nothing for you to be sorry for, if anyone _I_ should apologize for interrupting your meeting. Please continue, Elder, I will go. I will be in my room if you need me, Galaxina. Good day, Elder."

"Good day, young one."

After Cosmo had left, the bridge returned to its former task. "…Okay, so we are ready to begin again. Start the entry."

Suddenly someone shouted from Maerick's left, causing him to see the AAT that had just broken through the left flank, sending a few clones running for cover.

"Someone get some armor rockets to take out that thing _now_!" He yelled, but then He realized something was wrong when he saw that the barrel of the yellow tank had been elongated and was taking aim at him from over 300 yards away.

_Oh my gosh, they want to kill me so bad that they made an assassin _**tank**_! I don't know if I should be flattered or terrified…I mean really, just because it has a longer barrel doesn't mean it will actually be able to hit me from way over th-_

He never finished the thought because the round that the ugly giant had fired hit him square in the chest, blowing open his chest plate like paper and catapulting him in the air until he landed a few feet away, bleeding profusely from the hole in his armor.

"SIR!" screamed Biome. "MEDIC! OFFICER DOWN, REPEAT OFFICER DOWN!"

The medic scrambled over to the dying lieutenant as fast as he could while the other soldiers blew the crud out of the tank with the shoulder-mounted rockets that had had just been found, and the medic attempted to stop the bleeding from Maerick's chest, but he wasn't able to do much to help. Lucky for Maerick, though, the combination of being so far away and wearing a prototype alloy that the technicians of the 392nd had specially made for his armor had greatly limited the damage from the round, so he was alive still, if just so. (Note: his armor looks like the armor of a Metroid Prime Galactic Federation Trooper, which is owned by Nintendo, not me. the difference is it doesn't have the gun that they do, since he uses star wars guns. It's on Google if you want to see pictures.)

"We need to get him to a Med Lab now, or else he won't make it…"

"N-no…I w-will n-not leave my…men…man that hurts..." The officer muttered.

"I-I'm sorry, Sir," explained Biome, as he tried to not look at the blood, "but from the medical training I have, I know he's right."

"Oh really," he said as he gasped in air, "There i-is much you…ouch…don't know…too…" The soldiers looked on in shock as there leader began to prop himself up right before their eyes. "Now I n-need everyone to fall back…but l-leave me here…" he said as he began to slowly climb to his feet.

"Sir, we will nev-

"Consider y-your words carefully…soldier, because I am regaining my strength and I am st-still the officer here…so you wouldn't be defying my d-direct…ouch… orders, now would you?

"No, Sir."

"Good, now fall back."

And so all the clones reluctantly began retreating to the hangar underneath the base, where the Dreadnought was safely stored. Maerick got to his feet, and while using a wall for support, he pulled a modified Cyclogun (Star Wars Gatling gun) from off his back and prepared for his last stand.

_I will not lose anymore men…even if I have to die to save them_.

And so he stepped, yes stepped, out from behind the rubble and released round after round into the droids, cutting down droids by the dozens within the first four seconds. His personally modified gun fired prototype rounds that even destroyed two AATs, but then the droids began to react and return fire. At first they couldn't seem to find the man jumping out from behind random pieces of rubble, but soon the lasers got closer to their mark as they advanced. Even though over a hundred droids, two tanks, and a Hailfire droid were already down, they continued to advance on the single soldier. The game of hide-'n-seek came to an end when a lone Super Battle Droid came up behind Maerick while he was shooting and knocked him to the ground face-first, aiming its wrist-blaster at the back of his head.

"Surrender and die peacefully, organic scum." The droid said in its emotionless, metallic voice. Maerick eyed the grenades on his belt and prepared to set one off to take the droid with him when suddenly the droid's chest exploded in a shower of sparks and it fell to the ground with fuel leaking out of the hole in its armor.

"What the-

"Sir, are you okay?" Snipe asked as he ran up to the injured man.

The officer struggled to a sitting position, and while looking up at someone he normally had a few inches on, proceeded to scold the soldier. "SNIPE, YOU DUNDERHEADED, STUBBORN, DISOBEDIENT, TEMPERAMENTAL, SORRY EXCUSE FOR A WAR VETERAN! YOU DISOBEYED MY DIRECT ORDERS AND…I say…*sigh*…nice shot, and…um…thanks for the save."

"Anytime, Sir"

The lieutenant sighed heavily,"Unfortunately, I know."

Snipe laughed. "Let's get you on the ship, sir."

"Okay, but first, could you help me up?"

He laughed again, "Sure thing, Sir."

Once the duo finally limped its way to the ship underground, the hill opened a few miles from the base in the fields on the other side of it, and the Dreadnought took off into the atmosphere. As a measure of spite, the clones activated the only remaining function in the base for the droids: the self-destruct. The laughter of the clones was short-lived, however, for when they left the atmosphere they found a fleet of unknown droids with extremely angular frames and red eyes waiting for them, and there was one with a single green eye and a cloak who was floating in front of the army.

"Puny animals, you _dare_ approach the mighty presence of Dark Oak and the Metarex? You shall surely pay for your folly!"

Suddenly he disappeared and simultaneously the ship shook violently and alarms went off everywhere as he punched a hole through the ship from the front to the back engines and appeared behind the ship.

**Code Red. Code Red. Hull breach in sectors 2 and 8. Commencing emergency lockdown of breach for containment. Warning, fuel tanks destroyed, all power running from emergency back-up generators. Warning, engines 3,4,6,and 8 have been destroyed. Engines 1, 2, 5, and 7 are offline. Diverting all power to escape pod launch terminals.**

**End of Available File Data, Continuing in Next File**

This is bleak, to say in the least. Oh, and sorry for this being so long, but it was necessary, though I tried to keep the story as short as possible when I could. Please R&R, because as you can see, I still need writing tips. Thanks for your help and for reading, and stay tuned for more!


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N This is the end of the battle and the beginning of the end of the prologue. Thanks to those of you who told me how to improve this story. I've already begun to make the changes you have asked for (See, if you just tell me what's wrong I'll try to fix it. I don't bite, honest!) Only two chapters left after this, so enjoy! Oh, and the Star wars is almost done, which is a BIG hooray for some of you, so please don't get scared, confused, or angry and leave. (I do not own any Sega characters or anything referenced from Star Wars, they are owned by Sega and Lucas Film respectively)

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**Green Hill Zone, Mobius, one month after Dark Oak's defeat...**

It was a hot and sunny day in Green Hill Zone, and a little two-tailed Kitsune knew it better than anyone. Tails was flying a few hundred yards above the ground in circles over the area with sweat pouring from his brow as he searched for a dust cloud, sudden gust of wind, or any other sign of the person he was looking for. Suddenly he noticed movement in the long grass, and as he looked over he saw the grass being separated in a zig-zag line.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled as loud as he could.

Suddenly, the grass stopped moving and then the opening began to move straight towards Tails at an astonishing speed. As soon as the grass became short again, Tails could see the blue blur he knew to be his best friend. As fast as he was running, his nose was the only thing recognizable about his face and his legs were moving so fast that the red of his shoes and the blue of his legs looked like a solid piece of a circle - just a piece of a circle, though. Tails had always hated how cartoons on earth made the legs of someone running look like wheels; it was just too illogical for his taste. When Sonic finally came to a stop, one could see his signature hairdo of having his spikes slicked back separately though it probably worked out that way from all the running he did. Sonic looked up and flashed one of his famous smiles with a thumbs-up.

"Hey, Bro, how's it going?"

"Sonic," Tails said as he landed on the ground, slightly winded, "I've been looking all over for you. I was wondering if I could train with you again. I know it's already been a few days since we got back, but I also wanted to say...I'm sorry for those things I said to you on the Blue Typhoon after...after..." he couldn't bring himself to say the words that would follow, and tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay, Bro. I forgave you for that the minute you said those words to me. After all, what you say in anger isn't what you mean, right? Though I guess that was sorrow, not anger...aw well, who cares. We're still bros, and I know that you're still way past cool, right?" (yes, I did just put that in, for any SatAM fans out their who know what the heck I'm talking about)

"Yeah..."

"And as for the training thing, of course yah can! I've almost gotten tired of waiting for you to ask me that or to even just show up here! So, let's stop standing around and start with a short sprint of let's say...four miles!"

"Wait, four miles!? I just flew for hours after spending a month doing nothing, I don't have the energ-

"Glad to see you agree. See you at that tree over there!" He said pointing to a speck in the distance. Then he was gone.

"Wait, Sonic! ...man, he just never stops to running long enough to listen sometimes, does he? That's Sonic for you..." Tails muttered as he struggled to take off after the blur in the distance.

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**Aboard the Dreadnought****…**

392nd Lieutenant's Log: Automated Response: _Data exceeded space for single file, so previous entry has been continued in this file. Loading…_

The ship was thrown into total chaos after Dark Oak's attack, but thankfully there seemed to be no casualties. Maerick finally managed to get the clones in order with Sarge's help encouraging the demoralized troops.

"Aw crud, well good thing I was too 'paranoid' and had cloaking devices added to the escape pods, huh Sarge?" Maerick laughed.

"Y-yes…Sir." He had been the one who had criticized the officer for keeping the Dreadnought operational, and for upgrading its escape pods, even though the 392nd was ordered to stay on VIP.

_Hm, it might be beneficial to connect the logbook to the ships cameras, that way we record everything. Here we go. Now to get the men to safety…_

"Alright, I want all men except Sarge, Biome, CM, Snipe, and Slick to evacuate to the escape pods. You five are with me."

"What are we going to do sir?"

"Buy some time."

The officer explained that the plan was to surrender the ship unconditionally to the larger force, because a small sacrifice was worth saving dozens of soldiers' lives. The five veterans agreed, and as the six prepared to surrender, the rest of the troops loaded up into the pods and prepared to launch. Hurk, the sergeant in charge of the evacuation, was trying to pack the soldiers into the pods with as many people in each pod as possible.

"Sir, why are you ignoring the safety regulations for the escape pods?" one inquisitive soldier asked.

"Because even after losing half of our men, we still have just enough pods to hold the soldiers." he replied.

"But at the rate we are going, we're going to have a leftover pod, Sir."

"Precisely. We will not be leaving anyone behind if I can help it."

"What? Oh wait…oh! I se-I mean…Aye-aye, Sir!

So the six were left one escape pod, and just as they were about surrender to the Metarex they were given another helping hand; the droid fleet arrived and stupidly began firing on the Metarex. (Seriously, when will the droids **ever** learn?) As a result, the Metarex only sent a small landing force to invade the Republic's ship while the rest fought the droids. As the clones began to escape to the escape pod, they split up into two groups of three to try to find any wounded from Dark Oak's attack on the ship. Maerick, CM, and Biome were in one group while Slick, Snipe, and Sarge were in the second group. Maerick ordered that Sarge head straight to the escape pods, though Sarge said he wanted stay and fight until Maerick pulled rank on him…again. As the second group moved toward the escape pods, Slick noticed that they were passing the Lieutenant's dormitory and remembered something.

"Wait just a second, you guys." He said.

"What's the hold up? Are you going to loot Maerick's room?" Sarge accused.

"What? No! The Lieutenant has something that I don't think he'll want to leave behind, so I'll bring it for him." He defended.

"Well then, what is it?" Sarge asked.

"It's his special cyclogun that he always has with him, so I don't think he'll want to leave it here. After all, he developed it at the beginning for the Republic, but they refused to use it because of his situation." Slick defended again.

"You've been around that long?!"

"Yep, I was the third clone to be placed in this unit for non-destructive flaws, and he often used this to calm us and inspire us when we had problems coping with our death-sentence orders.

"Hm. Alright, grab it and then let's go."

"Alright."

With that, the second group left and arrived at the pod without a scratch, though they didn't find anyone who was wounded on the way, which ment the medics had done their job.

The first group wasn't quite so lucky. They had been ambushed by a boarding party almost as soon as they had left the bridge, and during this skirmish Maerick got shot, again, and his chest began to bleed, again. They won the fight, but as they continued to search for wounded soldiers CM was killed in a second attack, leaving Biome to try to carry the officer to the pod. There was no time for mourning, however, as another boarding party could attack at any time, so the duo hurried on as fast as it could. The two did not run into the third landing party, thankfully, and once they reached the escape pod, launched into space, and activated the cloaking field the men looked and saw that the lieutenant was really unconscious this time. They also saw that the small, automated medical bench in the pod had only managed to stabilize his life signs, but his breathing was shallow and his pulse faint.

"Lieutenant, stay with us…"

"Oh gosh, first CM, and now this…" Biome began to weep.

"Hey, will someone shut off his logbook already, he needs some sleep and we want as little electrical activity as possible so that they don't find us." Snipe snapped.

Slick got up and moved toward Maerick, "Yeah, you're right…oh wait, we should make a distress signal with this......humph.....my gosh, this hard...STUPID MACHINE! Man I wish we had a techie here…" Since the journal was still recording, he at least hadn't broken the data pad.

"Hey, why don't we just record a message and then jettison the data pad and wait for someone to find it? I mean, if we use the hardware of the ship for anything other than its auto-message receiver, those monster-droids will find us and kill us. This way someone might find it and try to save us…"

"You're right…okay, here goes nothing...Ahem, my name is Slick, and I am a major in the Navy of the Galactic Republic. Our ship has been destroyed, our leader is dying, and we are in an escape pod. Please, if anyone is out there, please help us! Contact us using the secure channel located as the default first file of the data pad. Please, this logbook has shown the kindness our leader has. I beg of you, don't let him die!"

"You say please too much…"

"Not the time, Snipe"

"Okay, Mr. Crabby. We need to shut that off now anyway so we can launch it."

"Oh. Right. Here..."

**End of Entry**

**__________  
**

**Aboard the Bridge of the Refugee Ship…**

A fierce debate had sprung up at the pleading of the clone trooper, and the room was filled with yelling. In the end, most of the Seedrians agreed to help them under the condition that the humans were confined to the unused lower sector of the ship and did not make contact with the Petalis except in emergencies, though there were still a few who resisted…

"Elder, we can't help some group of monsters just because they were attacked by another group of monsters! We should let them destroy each other!"

"Galaxina, you know as well as I that the Metarex are monsters that might have been created by our own folly. The data is only a few days old, so they will still be alive, and we cannot knowingly condemn them to death if we could be responsible for it. That is _murder_."

"The murder of animals would make the universe _rejoice_ at the end of their tyranny!"

"Galaxina, hold your tongue! I know you lost your father and your brother-in-law to the war, but we are helping them! That is the decision of the majority, understood?"

"Yes, Elder, but if they so much as take one _step_ outside of the lower sector, I swear I will never let you live it down!"

"Is that a threat, my dear?" The Elder replied coolly.

"No, Elder, it is a promise." The enraged girl responded with an even, biting tone to her voice.

"Well then, it is settled. You and I will talk later, young lady, but you may leave now. As for everyone else, let's bring the ship around and pick up the humans. I need contact with them quickly, and send some doctors down to the loading bay for the officer. Oh, and make sure the humans don't feel threatened. Understood?"

"Yes, Elder!" The crew responded.

Once the soldiers had been reached, the clones shut down the cloaking field and were pulled into the ship. As the troops climbed out, the doctors rushed into the pod and carefully took Maerick out and took him to the med bay with Biome close behind. The doctors needed his knowledge of the human body from his medic training to save Maerick's life, so they needed his help even though he was squeamish.

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**Meanwhile, on the Bridge…**

"And you are sure there are no others?"

"Yes, ma'am." Slick answered. He was the who volunteered to be interviewed while the others stood silently at attention. "We've been receiving distress calls for days from the pods that got attacked by the…Metarex, as their last calls for help…so much screaming..."

"It's okay, young man, you can cry in a little while, but right now we are trying to see if there is anyone to save. The Metarex are monsters that destroy countless lives, but we are just as evil as them if we allow anyone to die for the sake of our grief. Now I know it's hard, but please tell us, how many escape pods were there?"

"15 in all, ma'am."

"Then I am sorry, but we did find 14 wrecked escape pods…"

"No…why didn't the fools turn off their electrical devices? They knew that those give off detectable signals…" Snipe barely managed to say, and had actually begun to tear up. "After all this time…they're just…gone…"

Galaxina rushed in and, while being sure that she didn't make eye contact with the soldiers, said, "Elder, the officer has begun to recover. He should be fully healed in a few days."

"Well, that is the first good news that I've heard in a while. Thank you, Galaxina, you may go now."

"Thank you, Elder, and good day to you." She bowed and left.

"Pay no mind to her, she has a troubled past that is causing her pain right now. When she is herself, she is actually quite a responsible and compassionate young individual. Now then, about your living arrangements until we can take you back to your Republic…"

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Whew! That puts that war to rest, but it's not over yet. Next time, find out more about how the humans and Petali mix, or clash, as that may be the case. Will Galaxina be able to ever overcome her hatred from her loss? And how will Maerick be when he recovers? Why does Tails suddenly want to work out with Sonic again? Or is that just for their friendship's sake? Find out next time! Only 2 Chapters left!


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N Only one more chapter to go after this, so enjoy! (I do not own any Sega characters or anything referenced from Star Wars, they are owned by Sega and Lucas Film respectively)

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**Tails' Workshop, Mobius, one month after Dark Oak's defeat...**

Tails sat in his cot he had set up in his workshop looking up at the ceiling, trying not to think of his throbbing tails and feet. Even his arms were sore, as Sonic had decided that the cure to sorrow was to always be doing something different, whether it be running in a new place or, in Tails unfortunate case, doing push-ups. It had helped him take his mind off Cosmo, though since he was too preoccupied with the physical pain he was feeling to care about the emotional. Despite what Sonic may think, this was the main reason for his asking to work out. He had been genuine in his apology, but his request had been made for selfish reasons. He would apologize to him later, if it wasn't for the fact Sonic would look at Tails like he was crazy if he tried to apologize for something so "small" in Sonic's mind.

He involuntarily began to stare at the seed again, in its pot still dormant. He wondered if Cosmo was in there, sleeping. Resting from the emotional and physical toll saving the universe had taken on her. But that was ridiculous. She had always been so rested, eager to awaken before the others and begin the day with a jump in her step that made Sonic looked tired. Even under pressure she was calm, cool, and collected; when she wasn't trying to say she was the cause of the problem, that is. He still remembered the time the group had been ambushed by Eggman and the Metarex working together. He had lost complete faith in himself when Sonic got hurt trying to attack the Metarex back, yet she had pulled him aside and looked at him with her blue eyes so full of confidence and life. When she had finished talking to him, he could hardly back down, if only for the sake of saving her.

Then he looked over at the safe across the room. It was a small, metal box and had a huge scorch mark near the handle that had been ther when he had woken up yesterday. Someone had tried to steal the chaos emerald inside,and it was lucky he had found a metal that could withstand the same punishment as reinforced diamond. He would need to tell Sonic about that one soon...

______________________

**A mile away, looking down on the shop...**

The fox was smart, that much was true. He had built his safe out of something strong enough to withstand his strongest attack, well, the strongest one that wouldn't blow up the house too. He needed that chaos emerald to complete his mission, one that was for the fox's pwn good. He could always try asking for it, since the two had worked together on the _Blue Typhoon_, but he might be mad at him still. Besides, he wasn't very good with words, let alone asking favors. He wouldn't be able to deal with Tails angry at the same time.

_And who would blame him? _the character thought, _What I had tried to do was horrible, now that I have seen the love he has...I have to do this. I have to try to find someone who knows how to bring her back, for him. He deserves that much. The poor kid_.

Even though he would never say as much, he would help Tails get through this no matter what it took.

__________________________________________

**Aboard the Refugee Ship, almost two months after VIP…**

392nd Lieutenant's Log: _It's been a long time since the Petalis first showed their hospitality to us after they found us, a few days short of two months, I think. Anyway, they were so kind to us for the first few days, but then I recovered and they said that they wanted to limit the interaction between us and their younger children. They said that it would bring up bad memories of when they lost their home, so I didn't ask questions. Anyway, they sent us to this lower part of the ship that was completely vacant – apparently it had originally been used for food storage, but they soon used that up – so we cleaned it up. There were three rooms built around a central suite that opens up to a hallway that leads to a flight of stairs. These lead up to the main deck of the ship which circles around a central wall that houses the elevator to the bridge, and has many hallways that branch off from it to the rest of the ship. _

_The largest of the three rooms we have turned into a dormitory by hanging a few hammocks from support rods we were given. This room is straight across the suite from the hallway, and if you go to the next room to the right you will find our mess hall. Sarge turned out to be a pretty good cook, and so he makes the meals with the food that is sent to us by a robot trolley every day. How it goes up and down those stairs with wheels, I will never know. I do know that the food is homegrown (the Elder said that they use a small artificial farm to grow their food), and that it is delicious. The room all the way to the left has been turned into a training hall and an armory where we keep our weapons and where we stay in shape. We had managed to make a simple treadmill and weight bench, but that was it since we used the rubber tubes they gave us in order to make resistance trainers and we folded the extra blankets for mats to do sit-ups. So we have kept ourselves occupied for a time, but then we arrived at Coruscant a few weeks into our voyage. We thought we would be leaving that day and be back home, but we were wrong… _

_The day that we landed was the saddest day I've ever had in all my time in the Navy. We arrived to find the planet desolate; the skyscrapers of the giant city that once stretched so high were either demolished or reduced to their steel skeletal supports, and there was rubble everywhere. As we searched for survivors we began to discover craters underneath the rubble, and they were everywhere. After the Petali had explained the entire business about the Metarex stealing planet eggs, we expected to find one massive crater, but these were too shallow and there were too many to be attempts to retrieve the planet egg; the planet had been bombarded from above by the Metarex fleet. After two days we gave up our futile search until someone discovered the ruins of the Jedi Temple. The last time I had been there was 40 years ago when I was 16 and had stood before the council for a trial. I knew immediately we had found the holocron record hall in which they stored all of the data that they had amassed, and we found a recording of the last day of Coruscant. It showed the Senate building being obliterated in the middle of a session of debate about some taxes on agriculture, a debate at which the Chancellor had been present. That was it for our chances of finding our home, because we found other records set aside that contained messages from other planets in the Republic that had been attacked by the Metarex, and we figured out that Coruscant was the last Republican planet left before its own attack. The group that the Elder sent to check on us after we hadn't contacted them for two days found all five of us in the hall; we were on our knees weeping. Our home was gone…and we had been completely helpless to save it. The Elder had been kind enough to allow us to stay with the Petali clan until something else could be found, and no one objected except that girl with blue hair, Galaxina. She kept yelling about how we were murderous animals and shouldn't be allowed to corrupt their home, and other things of the like. It was then that we discovered that the Petali are plants, after which we thought "Petali and Petal, duh"; we felt like idiots at that point. So we have stayed down here ever since, biding our time by twiddling our thumbs and occasionally by remembering our fallen comrades, or by trying to come to terms with the pain that we all felt. My place where I sit and wait is at the entrance between the hallway and the stairs, and I…what the heck is that clanging noise?_

As Maerick stands up, turns around, and looks at the stairs, he sees a silver sphere bouncing toward him.

_What the heck? It almost looks like a rubber ball from back home. I'd better…wait, there's a kid at the top of the stairs running this way. She could get hurt, I have to-oof!_

The man was knocked flat by the sphere, and when it landed a few feet away it changed into a food trolley. Maerick laid staring at the machine as it turned back into a sphere and bounced back up the stairs past the young, green Petali girl who had stopped halfway down the stairs when she saw the officer get knocked down and then realized he was not a Petali or a girl.

_So that's how those things get up those stairs…_

"Wh-who a-are y-you?" the girl asked with wide eyes.

"My name is…oof, Maerick Stevens." The man grunted as he climbed to his feet.

"F-forgive me for asking, b-but what are you…um…Mr. Stevens" The girl asked as she began to regain her composure, though she barely remembered the words she had been taught to use to address males.

"I am…a human with many burdens. Why do you ask?"

"Are you a…an _animal?_"

"Yes…I am. And who might you be, Little One?"

"Oh…I'm…er…my name is Cosmo."

"Nice to meet you, Cosmo."

"Nice to meet you…Mr. Stevens."

_She still has problems with remembering that title, doesn't she? No surprise there, considering she hasn't seen a boy before…_

"I am so sorry that I knocked you over with that robot, sir. I have fun using them to play with when they are balls like that…I did not know that you were down here, either, and I am so sorry…" she began, "Please accept my sincerest apologies!" Cosmo suddenly blurted out as she shut her eyes tightly and bowed, cringing as if she expected him to yell at her for knocking him over.

"It's okay, Little One. No one was hurt, and no harm no foul, right?"

"No…harm no foul?"

"Er…yes. It's a saying I had back on my planet that means basically nothing happened, so no problem."

"Oh. I see. Well I should be going. I have chores that I need to do. It has been nice talki-

"COSMO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?" Galaxina screamed from the top of the steps.

"Galaxina! I am sorry, I was just-

"What did I tell you about coming down here?!"

"That I am not supposed to because there are bad things down here…"

"Yes, and now you are talking to one of them, so I am telling you to go play somewhere else and never come back here again!"

"But sister, he seems to be so nice. Why must I avoid him?"

"Because I told you to, and you don't know what you're saying."

"Okay, sister, I will go. Good-bye, Mr. Stevens. It was…nice to meet you."

"Same to you, Little One."

"Do not patronize my sister, _human_."

"What? Is it a crime to be nice to someone you meet? Where I come from, that is called common courtesy. I can see you have none, though, since you have done nothing but ignore us to our faces and slander us behind our backs!"

"What would you know of courtesy?! You are an animal, and it is because of your kind that we are here, that I lost my father and my brother-in-law, and that I can no longer talk to my mother!"

"I am so sorry to hear that, I did not know... And though I do now, I know you cannot continue to take your anger out on every animal you meet. I understand your pain, my battalion was once stationed on a jungle planet called Felucia where the plants killed many of my friends and made me deathly ill, but you don't see me carrying a grudge against every plant that I see. I would hope that I have been courteous to your clan even after our harsh segregation, but if I haven't been then I apologize, for I have violated the same rule."

"I suppose…no, wait. Stop confusing me! You are a lying animal; you will say anything to protect yourself!"

She ran up the stairs and out of sight, so Maerick sat back down as Slick walked over to him. "I heard the yelling from the suite…is everything okay, Sir?"

"She has so much pain and sorrow that fills her…I just hope that she can come to terms with her suffering... In any case, Slick, we will be here to make a difference when the time comes, for all of our time on this ship will soon be over."

"What do you mean by that, Sir?"

"Hm? Oh sorry, what I meant was call it a hunch, but I think it's been too calm for the past month. I have a…feeling that the Metarex are coming after us."

"The Metarex? After all this time? Hm…I suppose you're probably right sir. After all we have begun to run into planets that the Metarex have stolen the planet eggs from, so they probably know where we…what was that?"

"What was what, Slick?"

"That noise…it sounded like cannon fire from a warshi-

Suddenly the entire ship began to shake and screaming could be heard from up the stairs. Immediately all of the clones ran to the dormitory view ports (windows on a ship, you know the circular ones?) and looked out in horror at a monstrous ship with a gold crest similar to a dragon's head for a bow (front part of a ship), two huge wings that extended to the sides and one downward, and had huge engines with propellers protruding from the back.

"Everyone, get into your armor and meet me at the entrance to the bridge ASAP, understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" The clones chorused together.

_Time to try to return the favor the Petali did for us. I only hope we will be able to do something..._

_

* * *

_Who is this mysterious character? Why does he want to help Tails? What is going on with Galaxina? Will she ever get over her hatred? And though I tried to imply it, that ship is supposed to be Scar ship, so you can all guess what's next, right? That's right, the FINAL BATTLE! Tune in next time for the final chapter of the prologue, and please R&R! Thanks for reading, and see you next time.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N: This is it, the last chapter! The story of this chapter is very closely tied to the main story, which means tons of cliffhangers. I am sorry, but seemed unavoidable to me when you try to make a story tie into another. (I do not own any Sega characters or anything referenced from Star Wars, they are owned by Sega and Lucas Film respectively)

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**Unknown Place, one month after Dark Oak's defeat…**

She was once a girl with green hair, a flower for a skirt, two flower buds on her head, and a will to help others that was unmatched. She once had friends who loved her, and one who loved her as more than a friend. But that was a long time ago. Now she was trapped in a place of darkness; a place where she could not use any sense, move, or speak, and she only had her thoughts to keep her comfort. For an entire month now, since the day she had sacrificed herself to save the universe from certain destruction.

Her mother had promised she would be there afterwards, along with her family of those whom she had lost, but _this_ was not what she had been promised. She had almost felt their presence at first; could almost see them when suddenly there was a light and then total darkness. Now she could only feel the sorrow of having lost everything that she had ever held dear and helplessness from knowing that she could do nothing but wait in her cage and try to keep from going insane. She missed her family, her new-found friends, and most of all, she missed Tails. He had meant so much to her that she had almost told him not to fire the cannon for the sake of saving his emotional sanity, but the galaxy was the most important. And she had paid the price for it. She knew she wasn't dead, since she could sleep and dream., but that was all she knew.

"_Where am I? Tails, why is everything so dark? I can't move, and I can't see or hear…please save me, Tails. I love you so much…" _She pleaded in her mind, knowing that he could not hear her wherever he was…

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**Aboard the Refugee Ship…**

The squad had suited up and was now rushing down the hallway to the stairs when the ship began to shake again. The men saw the light of an explosion and screaming from the main deck, and as they rushed up the stairs they saw the doors to the Bridge's elevator shaft blown open and flaming debris was scattered throughout the deck. Maerick found Galaxina huddled in a corner, clutching Cosmo protectively in her arms. They both had tears running down their cheeks, and when Galaxina looked up he could see the loss in her eyes. After she said what had happened, he figured out that most of the occupants had rushed to the Bridge before it was destroyed, killing almost everyone that she had cared for.

"It'll be okay. We're going to make sure that you both get out of this alive. Now please come with me." He said to her to try to comfort her.

At first she stared at him in bewilderment at his willingness to help her after all she had done and said to him, but then she nodded her head and stood up. She did not move a single step, however, and so he turned around to find out what was wrong.

Maerick asked, "Is everything o-

"P-please take my sister to safety. Our mother has already said that it is more important that she survive than anyone else, so please save her…" Her voice was strained and her eyes were red from crying. Maerick could tell how hard it was for her to ask this.

"Of course, I'll have Sarge and Snipe go with her to the escape pods the Elder had us install."

"No, please I…I beg of you, I know what you've done and that you'll protect her even when others would give in…please go with her."

"Okay then, Sarge and I will take Cosmo to escape pods on the port side of the ship. Can I ask you to go with Snipe, Slick, and Biome to search the ship for survivors and then get to the escape pods at the starboard side?"

"Of course, we'll save everyone we can."

"All right then, you all have your orders. Now move!"

And so the squad split up, with Galaxina, Snipe, Slick, and Biome in one group and Maerick, Cosmo, and Sarge in the second. They all said their good-byes and received the coordinates to set the hyper-drives of the modified pods to so that they would all meet at one of the planets the colony had passed that was protected from the Metarex by an electrical atmosphere that shut down all technology until it crashed to the surface. The pods had been made to survive the crash by shutting down before entering the atmosphere and then reactivating just before impact so that the technology would survive. If that failed, as a safety measure all the necessary electrical equipment for surviving the planet were locked in a silicon safe surrounded by five inches of solid rubber covered by carbon plating, making them completely immune to electrical damage indeed. They knew that if one group didn't arrive at the planet within a day, something happened to cause them to go to another planet, and that the remaining group needed to live on without the other one. It was a harsh truth that they hoped would never need to be dealt with.

So Maerick, Cosmo, and Sarge headed straight for the nearest pods; the port pods. Unfortunately for them, there were Metarex in the way. The duo of elite soldiers completely outclassed every group of Metarex droids they ran into, and were almost to the pod launch bay when they came to an intersection. They had been running with Maerick carrying Cosmo and Sarge running just behind them, in order to make sure that Cosmo got through safely first. This was where they were ambushed by the ever-learning Metarex; they knew the only way to stop the trio was to fight dirty.

Maerick was across the intersection and starting to run down the last hall to the launch bay when he heard Sarge scream behind him. He turned to see Sarge a few feet back on the ground face first with a cut on the side of his neck armor and blood covering the ground under him. Maerick also saw a Metarex droid with blood on its claws and realized it had attacked him from the side before he could react.

Sarge looked up, "I'm s-sorry for always being s-such a pain, Sir. For always trying to make myself look better than you…I was jealous I guess…" Then Sarge stopped breathing and died from blood loss.

Maerick was filled with rage and sorrow from this new wound, and he quickly pulled out his ion pistol and shot the slowly advancing robot right between its optical sensors (basically eyes). It collapsed from the nullification of its electricity immediately, and Maerick ran to the pods with tears streaming from his eyes.

"It's okay, Sarge, I knew. I understood, and I forgave you a long time ago…" He couldn't bring himself to say more.

As he approached the pods, he picked the one farthest from the door to use. He quickly opened the door to the pod and was about to input the coordinates when he realized what needed to happen. First he sent a message to the communication device of the other pods so that the group would know why they wouldn't be there. Thankfully the unique blend of materials in the safes didn't block signals for messages. After that, he set the coordinates for a different planet, and when the screen asked "_Are you sure?" _he clicked "_Yes"_. The picture of the planet he had inputted came on screen, and when he saw how similar it was to Earth he knew it was the right place. Then screen flashed the name _Mobius_ and he strapped Cosmo in. He was about to do the same to himself when he heard the growls and hisses of Metarex droids coming, he knew the only way to keep them from attacking the pod before it jumped to hyperspace was to stall them himself. He looked at Cosmo, who looked back at him fearfully.

"Cosmo, I need you to be strong for me. The Metarex are coming, and I'm going to try to stop them from getting to you. I am sending you to a place that has the person who can stop these monsters. When you get there, you need to tell them about the Metarex and what they do. About what they did to you, okay?"

"Okay, Mr. Stevens. But who is this person?"

"His name is Sonic, and he is one of the only beings that can use the seven Chaos Emeralds, jewels that are suppose to be able to stop Dark Oak. Tell no one but him these things, do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Stevens, but how do you know these things?"

"There were files on the Chaos Emeralds in the ship's database and…I would look at them when I was bored…which is where he was mentioned. I wasn't supposed to look at those files, but I had nothing better to do…anyway, you _must_ tell him, okay?"

"Yes Mr. Stevens."

"Good, now you know what to do, Cosmo. Maybe I'll see you again someday. For now though, this is good bye"

"Good bye, Mr. Stevens." The girl said as her eyes filled with water. She was no fool; she knew what he was planning to do.

"It'll be okay. I promise you, I won't die. There's too much to do for me to die. Okay?"

"Okay." She said, unconvinced.

So he stepped out of the shuttle, closed the hatch, and punched the pod launch code into the interface panel on the outside of the pod. It began to launch, so he turned around with his cyclogun (yes, he does love to make last stands with that thing) and began to cut down the Metarex robots by the dozens. This continued until the Metarex suddenly stopped charging, which Maerick tried to use to try to thin the crowd more, but then his gun jammed. He reached for his ion pistol but could not find it when he realized he had dropped after he shot Sarge's killer. So he began to reach for his last weapon, a blaster rifle, and, although weak against the armor of the Metarex (as he and Sarge had discovered in their charge to get here), it was better than nothing.

As he started shooting, the Metarex separated to reveal Dark Oak walking slowly toward him. Maerick shot at his green eye, but the shots ricocheted off, He then tried the droid's armor, but he was hit in his shoulder by a ricochet for his effort. Then the Metarex leader was just a step away. Lieutenant Maerick Stevens held his blaster like a club and, in a last attempt to fight, tried to hit the monster with it, but Dark Oak avoided it easily, causing the rifle to break when it hit the wall Dark Oak had been in front of. Maerick turned around only to be grabbed by his throat, crushing his armor around his neck.

"You dare defy _me?_ You truly are a fool!"

"Not…a fool." Maerick gasped. "Just someone…who's trying to make…a difference…"

"Well, then you can look and see the difference you made with that girl." He declared as he smashed Maerick's face against a view port on the wall where the escape pods were.

Maerick could see Cosmo's pod still was warming up to jump to hyperspace when a Metarex soldier that had been scaling the hull of the ship jumped onto the pod. Maerick could also see Dark Oak's eye begin to glow faintly in his reflection in the glass.

"No...don't hurt her!"

But Dark Oak ignored him. "Do you want to live, small child? If you do then listen very carefully," he said as his eye glowed brighter, "From now on, your ears shall be mine, and your eyes mine. Whatever you hear and see, so shall I. You shall be my ears in the ranks of my enemies, my…my White Seed!"

"No!" Maerick screamed. "Don't do this!"

"And you shall not be able to remember this meeting, but you will remember what you need to do. Find this _Sonic _and tell him what happened to him, who he is to the galaxy, and why _he_ is the one you need. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, I do."

"Good."

"Why are you making me see this, you vile monster?" Maerick begged as he was forced to see what Dark Oak was seeing through the contact with Dark Oak's hand.

"Because I like to see the suffering of animals and anyone else who opposes me. After all, I have just killed my wife, children, and everyone else who betrayed me by trying to kill me. No one on this shuttle is left but you and me and my Metarex army."

As he said this, something caught Maerick's eye off the starboard side of the ship. It was an escape pod, and then he saw it jump to hyperspace and it was gone. Maerick slowly smiled.

"You're right, but you know something, Sonic will still beat you, because even though some animals are monsters, no animal has killed as many of your people as you have. Sonic is no monster; _you_ are. Because of that he has a strength you will never have. He will win."

"You will take back those words, animal, or you will pay dearly for them!"

"Make me."

Dark Oak became furious and began yelling in anger. Then he crushed Maerick's neck armor even more. This time, though, the armor began to split and a shard cut open his carotid artery in his neck. As blood poured from his neck he coughed and gasped as pain washed over his senses.

"And now for the final blow, animal. Cosmo, you shall never again remember this man or his companions or any events surrounding them. You were floating through space with just your clan all your life. You will remember being in a hallway when Scarship attacked, and so you fled for an escape pod and went to find Sonic. Now, Cosmo, I am showing you this man in my hands. Do you know who he is?"

"N-no…please, just let me go…"

"C-cosmo…no…" Maerick gasped as he lost the last of his strength to speak. Sensors and alarms in his armor were beeping crazily as his breathing began to slow.

"See animal, YOU LOSE! She is mine, we will hunt down your friends, and we will never be stopped! Mwhahahaha!" Dark Oak laughed triumphantly as Cosmo's pod jumped to hyperspace.

Dark Oak's maniacal laughter was the last thing Maerick heard before darkness overtook him.

_________________________________________________

**Angel Island, Mobius, one month after Dark Oak's defeat…**

The red echidna leaned against a pillar of the ruins surrounding the Mater Emerald, the jewel of power he protected. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and his left leg was bent so that the sole of his shoe pressed against his shoe. He had huge hands that were covered by white gloves, and on each of his hands were two spikes above his knuckles. He had hair that went down to about bicep-length and his shoes were red with green and yellow bands on them.

An entire month ha passed since they had beaten that lunatic Dark Oak, and though most of it had been spent on the return trip (it had taken them 3 ½ weeks to travel across space, even with the help of Tails' warp device which he had powered with a generator he and Eggman had built with scrap from the wreckages in both the _Blue Typhoon _and Eggman's ship). An entire month of Eggman having given up his mad scientist ways, or so he claims. After Chris had left, he said that he had decided that life was pointless to live if it was spent trying to dominate others and constantly failing at it. So he settled for being the most renowned scientist on Mobius by inventing technologies that helped improve life. The joke was that he had failed to conquer the world, but had managed to conquer the worlds of business and science.

Knuckles lazily opened one eye to make sure Rouge hadn't tried to steal his emerald when he noticed the Master Emerald had begun glowing. Knuckles walked over to see what was happening when there was a bright flash of green light in the sky and a figure appeared that began to fall just off the edge of the island. Knuckles took off running immediately, and when he reached the edge of Angel Island he made a gliding leap and caught the figure from the side, propelling them foreword and down into the sand of the beach of the mainland (yes it was a long fall, but hey, it's a Sonic fanfic, so they survived). Knuckles looked over at the person he had seen and was shocked to see a suit of futuristic silver armor with a green visor on the helmet that was joined to the rest of the armor. Suddenly the visor turned clear and Knuckles could see the wearer's face. He noticed that the wearer was a human boy who looked to be in his mid-teens.

"Who the heck are you, and what are you doing falling from the sky?"

"My name…is Maerick Stevens…where...where am I?"

"Mobius, and you almost just died from falling out of the sky, so mind telling me why you're here, Maerick?"

"Mobius? I...need to...to talk to Sonic..."

"And for what reason, besides falling from the sky, do have for that?"

"Because… I knew Cosmo and need to speak to Sonic about…the Metarex…"

"Wait…you knew…you knew Cosmo?"

"…"

"Hey, are you there?"

"…"

"Hello! Are you even going to answer me!?" It was then he saw that the boy's eyes had closed, and then Knuckles could hear a faint snoring. He also saw that the boy had bags under his eyes so severe that he seemed to have been given black eyes.

"Man, whoever you are, you seem beat. I'll take you to Amy's house…but when you wake up we'd better get the truth…"

* * *

Wow, that was a lot of typing, ha-ha! So now the prologue is done, and I'll get started on the regular series. Just to keep the tradition going: What happened to Cosmo? Who is this man, er, boy who claims to be Maerick? Why the heck is he there? Did the first group get away, or save anyone else? Tune in for the next story to find out. Thanks for reading and reviewing, and see you next time. Oh and please tell me what you thought of the series. If there is anything you would like to see happen in the next story, be sure to submit a review or a PM (I am open to either).

Thanks for all of the help from everyone who posted ideas to help (Ultra Orunitia, Nightgazer13, TailsLovesCosmo, Lord Kelvin, and Archaon), but especially Ultra Orunitia for the help he gave me with correcting problems in the story.


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